Winner of Volvo Group Internal Quality Award 2011

Volvo do Brasil has been awarded the Volvo Group Internal Quality Award 2011 for their journey to quality process stability.

Volvo do Brasil’s (VdB) journey to quality process stability at production proves that great results are achieved when you consistently work with quality management and continuous improvements. VdB’s Quality Process Stability development has all the time been strongly supported from top down. Strengthened people engagement at all levels has improved the quality markedly. The focus has been customer satisfaction, looking for zero defects to be number one in their segment.

The product audit results have improved year by year, the fault frequency has decreased significantly and the customer satisfaction has increased. Today there are much less re-adjustments needed on the trucks and fewer faults per truck, compared to 2004.

In 2009, VdB was the winner of the PNQ (National Quality Award), the highest recognition of excellence in management for organizations established in Brazil. Volvo was the first automotive manufacturer to receive this remarkable prize. The FNQ (National Quality Foundation) Model of Excellence in Management was adopted in Brazil in 2003.

The tools implemented by VdB are all well known quality tools that can be implemented in other Volvo Group areas. Nevertheless, they keep the mindset that you always have something to learn from others. Their journey to quality process stability proves that sometimes it’s not as important to create or use a new tool as it is but to apply the basic ones and to keep focused over time.

The winners will be acknowledged at an Award ceremony that will take place on September 22nd. The site is represented by Antonio Vinotti Filho (South America Manufacturing Quality Manager), Jorge Marquesini (South America Manufacturing Director), Cyro Martins (South America Manufacturing Operation Manager), Paulo Carneiro and Mauricio Schuhli. The price is, beside a great honour, a trip to another site or unit in the Volvo Group, decided together with the winners, to spread the message about the project/task and to create networks.

Interest in the Quality Award remains at a high level. 29 nominations were sent in for the 2011 award and finally the Volvo Group Quality Council together with a representative from the Group Executive Committee arrived at a decision. A special thanks to all of you who sent in applications for the award. This shows the strength of quality-related work within the entire organisation.